Court hears more on murder of Rastafarian man

over 2 years in Jamaica Observer

THE prosecution in the ongoing trial involving 33 alleged members of the Klansman gang Tuesday managed to regain its footing with the evidence being marshalled, relating to the 2018 murder of a deported Rastafarian man on Jones Avenue, Spanish Town, a hit said to be ordered by accused gang leader Andre "Blackman" Bryan.In November last year the Crown's case in respect of that assassination hit a snag after it was disclosed that, other than a scene of crime photograph and the evidence of the Crown's witness, there was no other evidence available from the police for the murder which is count 15 on the 25-count indictment. A prosecutor at the time, in response to questions posed by trial judge Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, said no police witness would be coming to speak to the death of the Rastaman either.According to the prosecutor, while the presence of the photograph indicated that the police would have gone to the scene and processed it, the Crown had "nothing to support it".That disclosure attracted this observation from the chief justice at the time: "So, no police witness will be coming to speak to the death of the Rastaman? No investigator, no police officers who went to the scene will be coming to say I went to the scene and I saw? So, other than the witness's assertion in respect of this Rastaman, there is nothing else to support his claim that this gentleman was killed in the circumstance outlined by him? Not even an investigator or police officer to say I was called to the scene and I went to the scene and I saw?""Herein lies the problem, that there is not sufficient evidence at this point to demonstrate that the witness is able to properly identify him from the photographs, so I can't go with you on that," Justice Sykes ruled then.Yesterday, in regrouping, prosecutors called on a detective sergeant from the Major Investigations Division of the constabulary who had been called to the scene on the Sunday of that slaying.According to the officer, after receiving a radio transmission regarding the incident, she along with other officers visited Jones Avenue where the body was seen in the middle of the road in a pool of blood, a knapsack still on the body."He was lying on his right side...I saw 15 spent casings on the ground nearby, a bullet fragment and one expended bullet, there was also a watch near the body," the officer testified Tuesday.She said she travelled behind the vehicle which took the body to Spanish Town Hospital, where the doctor on duty pronounced the victim dead. She said she again saw the corpse on the day of the autopsy.The witness then proceeded to identify the man from photographs shown to the court of the body as well as the crime scene.With the testimony of the witness, the Crown was able to successfully enter four photographs into evidence, effectively shoring up its case for that count. The accused, Jahzeel Blake, Michael Whitely, Brian Morris and Bryan, are each charged with facilitating the commission of an applicable offence by a criminal organisation in respect of the murder of an unnamed "Rastaman" in that count.The officer also detailed her role in the investigations into the November 2017 killing of a defiant Spanish Town bus driver who the gangsters had allegedly claimed was preventing them from collecting "the right amount of extortion money". Their solution to the perceived difficulty, according to the testimony of a main witness, was to send an assassin dressed in school uniform aboard one of its infamous "duppy truck" to "mash him up" right in the busy park. That "duppy truck", the court was told, was a stolen grey Nissan Tiida motor car bought from criminals in Lauriston, St Catherine, which had been given that moniker "because every time it drive out is either a shooting or murder".According to the evidence of one of two main witnesses, the murder was supposedly ordered after two alleged gang members identified as "Cubby" and "Mackerel" complained to the accused faction leader that, "is dis busman mek dem naw collect the right amount of extortion money." He said the men further complained to Bryan that the marked bus driver "a encourage di ress a bus man not to pay extortion". Information disclosed at the start of the trial in September was that between $80,000 to $100,000 was collected daily in extortion money from the section of the bus park controlled by Bryan.The witness said after receiving the complaint, the plot to kill the busman was hatched with Mackerel suggesting that the assassin, handpicked by Bryan and who was identified as the accused, Tareek James, alias CJ, be made "to wear a school uniform". According to Mackerel, he would "blend in as a schoolboy". The witness in his evidence claimed that Bryan approved of the disguise, saying it was a good idea.On Tuesday, the officer told the court that she went to the scene after being informed about the killing, where she saw the bus parked in one of the bays, bloodstains on the ground beside it. She said she also saw nine spent casings near the vehicle. She said after taking steps to have the scene processed and the evidence secured, she gave instructions for the bus to be taken to the Spanish Town Police Station. She said she then visited the hospital where she was shown the body of the driver "on a stretcher". She said the body was processed, photographed, and placed into a body bag and sealed with evidence tape before being taken to a funeral home. 

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